"Täglich meldet die SED-Propaganda neue Namen von 'Vollgenossenschaftlichen Dörfern'. DBZ: Grosse Schilder zeigen hier in Werneuchen, dass die SED-Funktionäre ihr Ziel erreicht haben. 26.3.60 "

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Picture 44: March 1960. Werneuchen, another village announcing the collectivization of agriculture (see picture no. 43). The „MTS“ (Machine and tractor stations) housed large agricultural machines such as combine harvesters. Since 1948, the general public had the legal right to use privately owned machinery. At first, machines belonging to individual farmers could be temporarily borrowed or commandeered, but eventually they were state-owned and put in the MTS, which often led to the machines being neglected or used irresponsibly. Mao-Tse-Tung, the leader of the Chinese Communist party, was used in the GDR as a propaganda figure until 1960, when there was an ideological split between China and the Soviet Union. The SED promptly distanced itself from Mao; so this machine and tractor station will have been renamed soon after the photograph was taken...
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